Psalm 138:5

Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) In the ways.—Rather, of the ways, this preposition being so used frequently after verbs of speaking praising (comp. Psalm 20:7; Psalm 44:8; Psalm 87:3; Psalm 105:2), though there is no parallel instance of such a use with this particular verb sing.

For ways used of God’s mighty works in creation see Job 26:14; Job 40:19; of His action in history, Psalm 18:30; Deuteronomy 32:4. It seems against the parallelism to understand literally that the heathen kings would come to walk in God’s ways—i.e., in righteousness, and so praise Him, as in Micah 4:2. The meaning is that heathen monarchs will be compelled to acknowledge the glory of Jehovah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

138:1-5 When we can praise God with our whole heart, we need not be unwilling for the whole world to witness our gratitude and joy in him. Those who rely on his loving-kindness and truth through Jesus Christ, will ever find him faithful to his word. If he spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? If God gives us strength in our souls, to bear the burdens, resist the temptations, and to do the duties of an afflicted state, if he strengthens us to keep hold of himself by faith, and to wait with patience for the event, we are bound to be thankful.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord - In the ways which God has appointed. They shall join with all that love him - with the humblest of the people - in acknowledging God. Kings and people shall thus bow before God in common acts of praise, and as being on the same level before him. As people, as sinners, as redeemed, as traveling to the grave, they are all alike before God.

For great is the glory of the Lord - Great is his character; great his dignity; great his honor; and all this will be seen to be so when those of most exalted rank thus worship and adore him. The most lofty on earth shall acknowledge that there is one who is more exalted than they are, and their own dignity and splendor shall thus contribute to deepen the impression of the honor and glory of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. for great is the glory—or, "when the glory shall be great," in God's fulfilling His purposes of redemption.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the ways of the Lord; or, of, or for, or because of the ways of the Lord, i.e. his wonderful counsel and gracious providences towards themselves and others.

Great is the glory; or, great shall be the glory. At that time the worship and glory of God shall not be confined to one small land, as now it is, but shall be extended to all the parts of the world.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord,.... Which are all mercy and truth; ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace: so the eunuch went on his way, and in the ways of the Lord rejoicing, Acts 8:39; Or, "they shall sing of the ways of the Lord" (t); of the excellency, pleasure, and usefulness of them;

for great is the glory of the Lord; shown in the works of creation; more especially in the person of Christ, and in the glorious work of redemption and salvation by him; and of which there will be a great display throughout the earth in the latter day, by means of the Gospel, the great spread of it, and the multitude of persons converted by it; which will make the ways of the Lord still more pleasant; see Isaiah 6:3.

(t) "de viis Jehovae", Piscator, Schmidt; so some in Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. they shall sing of the ways of Jehovah] They will celebrate His providential methods of dealing with His people. For ways cp. Psalm 103:7.

the glory of Jehovah] The revelation of His power and majesty in the deliverance of Israel. Cp. Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 60:1.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord. They, i.e. the kings, shall sing, no longer in their own misguided heathen ways, but in the ways of the Lord, in the mode prescribed by his Law and practiced in his temple (comp. Isaiah 49:22, 23; Isaiah 60:8-5, etc.). For great is the glory of the Lord. (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3; Isaiah 66:18.) It is this "glory" which attracts "all nations and tongues." Psalm 138:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There are two things for which the poet gives thanks to God: He has answered him in the days of trouble connected with his persecution by Saul and in all distresses; and by raising him to the throne, and granting him victory upon victory, and promising him the everlasting possession of the throne, He has filled him with a proud courage, so that lofty feeling has taken up its abode in his soul, which was formerly fearful about help. Just as רהב signifies impetuosity, vehemence, and then also a monster, so הרהיב signifies both to break in upon one violently and overpowerlingly (Sol 6:5; cf. Syriac arheb, Arabic arhaba, to terrify), and to make any one courageous, bold, and confident of victory. בּנפשׁי עז forms a corollary to the verb that is marked by Mugrash or Dech: so that in my soul there was עז, i.e., power, viz., a consciousness of power (cf. Judges 5:21). The thanksgiving, which he, the king of the promise, offers to God on account of this, will be transmitted to all the kings of the earth when they shall hear (שׁמעוּ in the sense of a fut. exactum) the words of His mouth, i.e., the divine אמרה, and they shall sing of (שׁיר with בּ, like דּבּר בּ in Psalm 87:3, שׂיח בּ in Psalm 105:2 and frequently, הלּל בּ in Psalm 44:9, הזכּיר בּ in Psalm 20:8, and the like) the ways of the God of the history of salvation, they shall sing that great is the glory of Jahve. Psalm 138:6 tells us by what means He has so super-gloriously manifested Himself in His leadings of David. He has shown Himself to be the Exalted One who is His all-embracing rule does not leave the lowly (cf. David's confessions in Psalm 131:1; 2 Samuel 6:22) unnoticed (Psalm 113:6), but on the contrary makes him the especial object of His regard; and on the other hand even from afar (cf. Psalm 139:2) He sees through (ידע as in Psalm 94:11; Jeremiah 29:23) the lofty one who thinks himself unobserved and conducts himself as if he were answerable to no higher being (Psalm 10:4). In correct texts וגבה has Mugrash, and ממרחק Mercha. The form of the fut. Kal יידע is formed after the analogy of the Hiphil forms ייליל in Isaiah 16:7, and frequently, and ייטיב in Job 24:21; probably the word is intended to be all the more emphatic, inasmuch as the first radical, which disappears in ידע, is thus in a certain measure restored.

(Note: The Greek imperfects with the double (syllabic and temporal) augment, as ἑώρων, ἀνέῳγον, are similar. Chajuǵ also regards the first Jod in these forms as the preformative and the second as the radical, whereas Abulwald, Gramm. ch. xxvi. p. 170, explains the first as a prosthesis and the second as the preformative. According to the view of others, e.g., of Kimchi, יידע might be fut. Hiph. weakened from יהדע (יהידיע), which, apart from the unsuitable meaning, assumes a change of consonants that is all the more inadmissible as ידע itself springs from ודע. Nor is it to be supposed that יידע is modified from יידע (Luzzatto, 197), because it is nowhere written יידע.)